Want a Middle Class? Strengthen Unions.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

If it wasn’t clear yet, trickle-down economics is a joke. It hasn’t and never will work. If we want our economy to grow, our officials should put their focus on growing the middle class. “There is a large--and growing--body of research showing that the economy grows from the middle out and that seemingly "soft-hearted" notions about investing in people or communities are actually the key to a competitive economy.”

“Three-fifths of the jobs created during the economic recovery were low-wage, according to an October study from the National employment Law Project. While most of the jobs lost during the recession paid middle-class wages.” Once again, the key to growth lies in strengthening the middle class.

Is it really that hard for our elected officials to see that the Right’s continued assaults on labor unions have significantly hurt the middle class? “As the number of union workers has declined in recent years, so too has the middle-class’ share of income. Income inequality has spiked during the same timeframe.”

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.